


A Moment

by Taste_of_Suburbia



Category: Better Call Saul (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Choices, Established Relationship, F/M, Fandom Stocking 2017, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Introspection, Romance, Season/Series 02, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 04:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13240155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_of_Suburbia/pseuds/Taste_of_Suburbia
Summary: Kim smokes and waits for Jimmy.





	A Moment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SegaBarrett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/gifts).



> Written for misspinkman (SegaBarrett) for Fandom Stocking. This is an AU where Saul _doesn’t_ admit what he did to his brother in the Season 2 Finale. I tried to write angst, then I tried to write fluff, but I couldn’t quite manage either one of them for some reason; I guess it’s a little bit of both. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this and happy 2018!

 

She lit her third cigarette, inhaled, forget to exhale, waited a beat, then pushed out every bit of her soul upon the exhale, waiting…

If Jimmy didn’t come by tonight then she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

The thought barely chilled her before a shadow fell upon the wall across from her, the pace of the footsteps familiar as they closed in. A long pull this time and a relieved, relaxed exhale.

“Chuck keep you late?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, voice cracking in what she assumed to be exhaustion. He accepted a cigarette from her, already lit, with a heavy sigh. “He’s worried about the memory loss. Keeps digging at me, thinks I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Kim, not for the first time, was terrified for him. After all the times Jimmy had looked out for Chuck, it had only days ago been made brutally apparent how Chuck would never return the favor. Kim did get it at first, Jimmy was a hard pill to swallow, but he also had the biggest heart of anyone Kim had ever known. Add to that his charm, loyalty, devotion to her, and the slow realization that not everything he did was out of pure selfishness, and Kim came to pinpoint the man she should stick by. On the other hand, Chuck had a _massive_ , insanely _obsessive_ bone to pick with his brother, and Kim knew she didn’t want to be in the crossfire in the long run.

But there was something about Jimmy… something that made her want to take any fall, make any move, no matter how drastic, as long as it was in his best interests.

It was what he had done for her, after all, time after time.

“Be careful around him, Jimmy. Don’t think you can let your guard down.” She searched for his eyes in the near dark, held them, drew his exhaustion and sudden confusion into her, twisted them into a tight ball. Why they were meeting in the parking garage of her old office instead of at her apartment, she didn’t know. Maybe because they had shared so many small moments here, ones she treasured more than anywhere else.

Why she called him at all, she didn’t know either. An act of baseless desperation.

All she knew was that she had called him and he had answered. He always answered.

 _She_ was the moody, unpredictable one.

“Yeah, I know.” Jimmy broke away, but not from her. His head tilted down, the bit she could make out from the scarce light his hair flopping in front of his face, but her mouth quirked nonetheless. He was such a little boy sometimes, unsure, reaching out for her of all people and no one else to understand him. Like no one had ever bothered to.

Despite the stress and the constant worry of what Jimmy was going to do next, of what Chuck was planning, she _was_ happy with him. Any moment she could steal with him she was happy, in the short term.

But what about the long term?

Jimmy shuffled back and forth, either nervously or impatiently. “We gonna head home anytime soon, or are we gonna stand out here all night?”

 _Home._ Recently she would have resented him sharing that word with her, but Kim couldn’t remain static her whole life. She couldn’t keep pushing Jimmy away when reasons kept slipping from her fingertips like useless teardrops. Were there any reasons left after all that had transpired between them, or were there too many and she was just too tired to keep up with them all? Especially concerning the consequence of being _one_ more person to push Jimmy away. Ignorance is bliss, right?

 _No, Jimmy_ _’s done_ everything _right._  

Kim exhaled. “I’m not done with my cigarette yet.”

Jimmy, in answer, stamped his own out then held his fingers out for hers. “Here. Let me do the honors.”

She didn’t know what made her give into him, on this and on everything else, but Jimmy McGill was persistent like that. _Damn charmer._ He crushed hers on the ground with his shoe right next to the remnants of his own, like every piece of them was meant to be in tandem: Jimmy leading, Kim following behind, almost blindly, having to accept every one of Jimmy’s less than legal methods and pray the aftermath wouldn’t rain down too hard on them.

Kim wanted to tell him to hold her, wanted him to say that everything would be okay. Not that he would stop, she _knew better_ , but that it would never get bad enough, that they could just keep going and going and going. _Like living in a fairy tale land._ But if Jimmy was good at anything it was _the sell_ , and she didn’t want to buy his affections or his reassurances or even his promises.

All she wanted was this moment.

Regardless, Kim pushed herself away from the wall, slipped her hand into Jimmy’s own with a trusting, somewhat confident smile, and let him pull her back into _their_ reality.

It was _her_ damn life, after all.

**FIN**


End file.
